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Beeb Chase is a conversion of the Spectrum classic 3D Death Chase, an endless chasing game based on the famous speeder bike chase from Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi. It comes from Chris Bradburne (who has released a slew of original games recently for the BBC B) and the idea is that you must race your bike at top speed, and shoot the enemy riders who appear, initially, in the distance and then grow larger and larger in your field of view. Once you're "in range", you let loose a plasma bolt and hope the see a satisfying burst of light to indicate a successful hit.

3D Death Chase was one of the first 'third party' games for the Spectrum that really made an impact back in 1984, and it regularly features prominently in articles that discuss 'classic' Spectrum games. There were also Amstrad and Dragon 32 conversions that successfully captured the fun of the original. But, for some reason that it's hard to put one's finger on, this BBC version feels much more flat and much less exciting than any of the others. I found it harder to shoot the fleeing bikers, and I found it much, much easier to avoid all the scrolling trees. The original feels much more exhilarating to play - and, after scratching my head over why this was so for a good ten minutes, the only reason I have come up with is that the original has *more trees from the outset*.

Basically, what makes the legacy 3D Death Chase work is the excess of trees cluttering the landscape and the way you must duck and weave your bike through them. Every time you shoot two riders, the number of trees is increased and the game continues. However, in this BBC conversion, the number of trees is reduced to such an extent in the early levels that you need to play through about eight zones before you get anywhere near close to the exhilaration of the Speccy's first one.

This is a crying shame as it causes Beeb Chase, which is by no means atrocious, to fall to a level that's slightly below average. The aggravating thing is that it all does work as it should - it zips along, the bike reacts immediately to your commands and the '3D' perspective on the trees and the escaping bikers looks just as realistic as it did in the original. But 3D Death Chase's biggest draw was always its inherent playability... and Beeb Chase just doesn't deliver the goods.